In some surgical operations, surgical supports, for example, meshes, are employed by surgeons to bridge, repair and/or reinforce tissue defects within a patient, especially those occurring in the abdominal wall, chest wall, diaphragm and other musculo-aponeurotic areas of the body. Surgical supports are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,054,406, 3,124,136, 4,347,847, 4,655,221, 6,838,884, and 5,002,551. During such operations, surgeons employ conventional or known suturing or anchoring techniques to apply such supports to body tissue. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,652,245 and 5,203,864 describe methods for suturing or anchoring mesh supports to body tissue, especially during hernia repair operations.
Surgical stapling devices are employed by surgeons to sequentially or simultaneously apply one or more rows of surgical fasteners such as staples or two-part fasteners to body tissue for the purpose of joining segments of body tissue together. Such stapling devices generally consist of a pair of jaws or finger-like structures between which body tissue to be joined is placed. When the instrument is actuated, or “fired,” longitudinally moving firing bars contact staple drive members in one of the jaws, thereby pushing surgical staples through the body tissue and into an anvil in the opposite jaw which crimps the staples closed. If tissue is to be removed, a knife blade can be provided to cut between lines of staples. Examples of such instruments are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,354,628, 5,014,899, and 5,040,715, teachings of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Surgical stapling devices have found widespread application in surgical operations where body tissue must be joined or removed. When operating on thin tissue, such as thin emphysematous lung tissue, it is important to effectively seal the tissue which can be particularly prone to air leakage. Preventing or reducing air leakage can significantly decrease post operative recovery time. Inhibiting or preventing tearing at the stapled incision site in musculo-aponeurotic areas also significantly decreases recovery time.
Thus, structures for use with surgical stapling devices which enhance sealing at the surgical site and/or reduce tissue tearing are desired.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,409, 5,810,855, and 5,908,427 describe surgical staple line reinforcement devices and surgical stapling apparatus with tissue bolstering materials.